He pulled a small piece of copper wire from his pocket—heaven knows how he had all sorts of things in his pocket—and twisted the two ends of the black wire together. The little red light flashed twice and then went out.
"Done." He tossed the buzzer aside. " Old Dao's stuff is shoddy. Professional tripwires aren't made like this."
Snow Empress reinserted the crowbar into the gap in the cover plate and pried it open with confidence this time. The cover plate flipped to one side, revealing a square vertical well opening underneath. The well walls were made of brick, and the iron ladder was so rusted that only one diagonal brace remained. A blue light emanated from the bottom of the well, but it was much darker than the previous two nodes.
"I'll go down." Snow Empress tied the rope to the iron pipe and slid down the only diagonal support. Halfway down, the support broke, and she fell directly to the bottom of the well. Fortunately, there was a thick layer of rotten leaves on the ground, so she wasn't injured. She got up, dusted herself off, and looked up, shouting, "I'm okay. Come down, it's not that high."
A Yao and the Vein Guardian slid down the rope. The passage at the bottom of the well was narrower than the previous two, with a door frame only wide enough for one person, and the door panel was tilted to one side. The three of them squeezed in sideways, and after walking about ten steps, a circular room appeared in front of them. This room was smaller than the previous two, and the control panel was also smaller, with a dark screen.
A Yao walked to the control panel and pressed two buttons. The screen lit up. "Master Node 03 is not activated. Three Spirit Vein Key are required."
"The key hasn't been used yet," A Yao said, turning around. "The key popped out after the first two nodes were activated. This one hasn't been inserted yet."
Snow Empress placed the metal box on the control panel and opened the lid. Three keys were inside, their dark gold patterns gleaming faintly in the blue light. A Yao arranged the keys in order and pushed them into the slots one by one. Click, click, click, the screen lit up, and a buzzing sound rang out.
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the passageway, more than one.
Snow Empress shoved A Yao under the control panel and pressed herself against the door frame. The Vein Guardian reacted quickly, drawing his machete and hiding behind a metal box in the corner of the room.
The footsteps paused in the passage, then a gruff voice shouted, "You guys inside, hand over the key. Old Dao said, we don't care if you activate one node, but you can't touch the third. If you do, you won't be able to get out of this well."
Snow Empress didn't say anything. She peeked into the passageway and saw four people standing in the corridor outside, all carrying weapons: two crowbars, a machete, and an old-fashioned hunting rifle.
"A shotgun," Snow Empress muttered, shrinking back. "Troublesome."
A Yao poked half her head out from under the control panel and whispered, "Activation has begun. Two minutes left."
"Delay for two minutes." Snow Empress gripped her knife tightly and gestured to the Vein Guardian. The Vein Guardian nodded and held the woodcutter's knife horizontally in front of his chest.
The gruff voice outside shouted again, "Stop playing dead! I'll give you ten, or we'll throw things in. Ten, nine!"
Snow Empress suddenly raised her voice and replied, "Why didn't Old Dao come himself? Why did he send you all to your deaths?"
There was a moment of silence outside. The gruff voice lowered noticeably. "Who cares who's here? Just hand over the stuff."
" Old Dao found this place last year, but he didn't dare come down himself, so he sent you guys to scout it out. Aren't you afraid he might have a backup plan in this well? What if we activate the node and the wellhead collapses? He could just bury you all inside and save on labor costs."
Whispers came from outside. A gruff voice cursed, "Stop stirring things up!"
"Think about it yourselves. Who pried open the cover plate of node 01? Old Dao told you to. Who damaged the panel of node 02? You did too. He had you pave the way so he could reap the rewards. Now you're blocking us, but once the node is activated and the wellhead collapses, you won't even be able to escape."
The whispering grew louder. A shrill voice said, "She has a point... Why doesn't Old Dao come himself..."
The gruff voice continued to yell, "Shut up! She's talking nonsense!"
At this moment, the console emitted a crisp notification sound. The screen displayed. "Master Node 03 successfully activated. Spirit Vein Coverage: 52.8%. All three master nodes are now online."
The blue light in the room turned warm white, and the control panel emitted a steady hum. The four people outside the corridor panicked, shouting in shrill voices, "It's activated! She's activated it! The well is collapsing, run!"
Footsteps pounded as he ran away. A gruff voice kept shouting, "Come back, you bunch of cowards!" But no one listened to him, and eventually he ran off too.
Snow Empress peeked into the passageway; it was empty. She couldn't help but chuckle, "What kind of people did Old Dao hire?"
A Yao crawled out from under the console, brushing the dust off her knees. "Alright, all three nodes are online. But there's a new notification on the screen,"
She pointed to the screen, which read, "Three main control nodes are online. The Spirit Vein Circuit is being connected. Estimated full activation time: 30 minutes. Note: Once fully activated, the node protection mechanism will be triggered, and all unauthorized personnel will be forcibly removed."
"Expel them?" The Vein Guardian leaned closer to look. "What do you mean?"
"That means within half an hour, anyone else entering this well besides us will be kicked out by the system," A Yao explained. "It's the protection mechanism of the Spirit Vein Circuit. Even if Old Dao's men come back, they won't be able to get in."
Snow Empress sheathed her sword. "Half an hour. We can take a break and wait for the system to fully activate before going out. If those guys are still loitering around, a single blast from the system will be enough to get them in trouble."
Thirty minutes passed faster than expected. Snow Empress removed the spare panel on the side of the control panel and checked it to make sure that the wiring hadn't been completely damaged by Old Dao's men. The Vein Guardian squatted at the entrance of the passage to keep watch, while A Yao flipped through the leather notebook twice more to make sure that no information had been missed.
When the countdown reached zero, a large message appeared on the console screen. " Spirit Vein Circuit fully activated. Coverage area: Entire Blind Zone. Node protection mechanism enabled."
Immediately afterward, a strange buzzing sound came from the direction of the well, like a swarm of wasps flying overhead. The Vein Guardian peered into the passage. "There's light sweeping through the corridor outside, blue and white, moving close to the wall."
"The protection mechanism is working," A Yao said. "Unauthorized personnel will be ejected if they come into contact with that light. We have activation records on us, so we should be fine."
Snow Empress stood up. "Let's go up and take a look."
The three men walked out along the passage. When they reached the bottom of the well, they heard several screams and curses coming from outside the cover above them, followed by the scraping sound of a heavy object being dragged away. By the time they climbed out of the well using the rope, the open space outside was deserted. A clear drag mark had been left on the bramble bushes, extending all the way to the earthen embankment.
"They really kicked them out." The Vein Guardian grinned. " Old Dao and his gang will probably never dare to come to the Blind Zone again."